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28 May 2016

Trial could open the doorto further investigations implicating Latin American and US officials

A historic verdict that could for the first time judicially confirm the
cooperation between the Southern Cone region’s military dictatorships in
eliminating political activists — in what is known as Operation Condor —
could be given today, opening the door for further investigations.

Operation Condor was a plan between military regimes from Brazil,
Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, Bolivia and Uruguay during the 1970s and
1980s to share information, resources and exchange prisoners who would
then be secretly tortured and many times executed with their bodies
discarded and hidden. “If the court ruling is favourable, this would be
the first judicial sentence that addresses and establishes that
Operation Condor was an illegal association between different states,”
CELS Executive Director Gastón Chillier told the Herald yesterday. The
human rights organization was part of a group of plaintiffs who
requested that an investigation be opened in 1999, which finally
commenced in 2013.

Although 32 former military officers from Argentina and one Uruguayan
were originally indicted in the case, only 17 will receive a sentence
after the others either died of natural causes or were removed due to
health problems. The remaining accused will receive a verdict for the
murders of 109 political activists from the region.

CELS and the prosecution are requesting up to 25-year prison
sentences for the military officers. The majority of the victims
originated from Argentina, while 45 were from Uruguay, 22 from Chile, 15
from Paraguay and 13 from Bolivia.

Part of the investigation focused on a clandestine detention centre
known as Automores Orletti, where Uruguay victims who had tried to flee
their country or were living in exile in Argentina were detained.

“We’ve had a lot of collaboration from Uruguay, Chile and Brazil in
collecting and analyzing specific documents related to the
investigation,” state prosecutor Pablo Ouviña told the Herald.

One of the most important pieces of evidence presented in the case is
the Archive of Terror from Paraguay’s Museum of Memory that was
discovered in 1992. The stash of documents demonstrated how the
Paraguayan intelligence agents would cooperate, and the foundation of
Plan Condor. “The Terror archive was incorporated in the case, showing
how in 1975 they made Operation Condor official, and how the different
countries would cooperate, and the phases of the plan in details,”
explained to the Herald, CELS lawyer Luz Palma Zuldau, who is
representing the human rights organization in the trial. The CELS lawyer
was alluding to a secret meeting that occurred on November 28, 1975,
held between intelligence heads from Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay
and Uruguay.

In this meeting, the Intelligence directors signed an act officially
establishing Operation Condor. Intelligence agents such as the Argentine
Jorge Casas, Bolivian Carlos Mena, Uruguayan José Fons, Chilean Manuel
Contreras Sepúlveda, and Paraguayan Benito Guanes Serrano made a pact to
eliminate not only political opponents, but also social activists, and
union and student leaders. For decades, previous governments in the
region denied that a secret operation had existed, until human rights
activist Martín Almada discovered the “Archives of Terror” in 1992 in
the Paraguayan city of Lambaré.

According to the CELS, Operation Condor was divided into three periods.

The first phase was the creation of a database to track the movements
of guerrillas, political parties and leftist groups, union leaders,
religious authorities, liberal politicians and anyone perceived as an
enemy of the authoritarian military dictatorship.

This was followed by a second phase, where they would begin to
identify and attack those political enemies in the region, and even in
some cases eliminate those who were residing outside the region such as
in the United States or Europe. A notable case is that of former Chilean
foreign minister Orlando Letelier under ex-president Salvador Allende’s
administration. In 1976, he and his US companion were blown up by a car
bomb in Sheridan circle in Washington DC. This was later revealed to be
ordered by former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet.

The documents incorporated in the trial also reveal that United
States government agencies were aware of the program and some
government leaders even secretly approved it.

One of the best-known pieces of evidence is a memorandum of
conversation between former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and
former Argentine foreign minister Admiral César Augusto Guzzetti, which
was declassified by the National Security Archive (NSA) in 2004. “If
there are things that have to be done, you should do them quickly. But
you should get back quickly to normal procedures,” Kissinger answers
Guzzetti after consulting him about the human rights violations they
were committing, in a meeting held in Santiago, Chile in June, 1976.Although Kissinger’s and the US government’s role weren’t the focus
of the trial, Chillier explained to the Herald that there is a
possibility that this could lead to other investigations in the region.

“Kissinger’s role in this Operation wasn’t part of the
investigation... but it remains clear that they (US government
officials) were aware of the plan... An interesting piece of evidence
incorporated in the case was that the US had facilitated a
communications site based in Panama to help provide intelligence
services to the nations involved via the telex system,” said Chillier.
He highlighted that more information about the United States role in the
operation could be revealed when archives from that period are
declassified, as US President Barack Obama promised on his state trip to
Argentina last March.
In many countries, such as Paraguay, investigations into crimes
against humanity committed by the former military authorities has so far
been limited. While former Paraguayan dictator Alfredo Stroessner and
Chilean General Augusto Pinochet had been cited to testify, they died
before they could be taken to trial. The only former dictator who is
being tried is ex-Argentine general Reynaldo Bignone, who is the
highest-ranking surviving ex-military figure.

For many victims from other countries, such as Paraguay, this is an
opportunity to receive some type of justice over what happened to them.
“This is a trial that will have not only effects in Argentina, but also
symbolic and historic effects in countries that participated in
Operation Condor... we hope this generates a series of political
decisions that leads to more investigations,” said Palma Zardua.

26 May 2016

LEAVE A COMMENT if you know what (if anything) my t-shirt means or represents. What is it? What is it trying to say to strangers, kin, police officers, children?

What will my torso say to people I pass? (If anything.)There's a Face. Say something about that.Three Words. Each is a valid legal kosher halal even nice polite positive word.

There's a shitload of a gazillion colored little spheres. Somebody wake Amy. Put them all together, and they tell the world:

_______?___________

What's going on on my public torso in a day or two? What's going on on your public torso in a day or two if you print this out and take it to Paradise Copies, Northampton MA USA and give the clerk some money, and come back the next day and you got a wonderful new t-shirt. (Once or twice I've put it on in the parking lot. I couldn't wait till I got home.)

But making a new t-shirt at Paradise Copies in Northampton (a big heavy fancy smart college/university town with much disposable income) is just goddam fun. I like to do my work and then linger and loiter and gawk. The whole workspace is just buzzing with ideas and goofy images and goofy-looking young and old people and have it tomorrow by noon. It has 5 types of liquid adhesive, it has adhesive tape, double-sided (my fave), staplers, scissors, gang punchers, all free, and it has about 20 self-serve monster computer-controlled photocopy machines. Reductions, Enlargements, you punch in the percentage change you want.

Everything in Northampton, Massachusetts is called Paradise. Paradise Pizza. Paradise Prosthetics. (We have a lot of military veterans because of the Veterans hospital and the USA's longest-ever wars.) Paradise Septic Service. Because [Wikipedia]

In 1851 opera singer Jenny Lind, the "Swedish Nightingale", declared [at the Academy of Music, still there, box office opens at noon]Northampton to be the "Paradise of America", from which Northampton took its nickname The Paradise City.

Chef on South Park tells the kids:"Boys, there's a time and a place for everything. It's called college."

The Dutch Power Cows are Dutch cows which run very fast and produce milk for delicious cheese on powerful engines (made by Philips in Lightbulbville).

15 December 2006 03:19 PM

GeoffBlackwell
Posts: 3762
Joined: 18 January 2003

This is what my translator gives:

The Dutch Power Cows have been proposed for ISOC (Internet society
the Netherlands) award in the categorie best social initiative. The
Internet society is an association which in 170 landen active are, and
that accessible, stable and safe Internet on world scale pursues. She
does that by means of requested and unasked advices, concrete projects
and by knowledge available to put for ...........

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